


Lullaby

by kereia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 19:04:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18697414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kereia/pseuds/kereia
Summary: The next time she came to, she recognized the song Poe was singing."That's a bit morbid," she groused with her eyes still closed.





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [outruntheavalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/gifts).



 

Rose woke up slowly.

She was lying on her back with the soft, warm weight of blankets on top of her, and she was sure that she could have been almost comfortable if it hadn't been for the dull ache that spread through her body the closer she drifted towards consciousness. The ache was compounded by a much sharper sting in her arm, and she shifted on the bed, hoping that a different position would ease the pain.

It didn't.

She groaned.

In response, a gentle hand fell onto her arm. A new sensation pierced the fog inside her mind, and once her brain had puzzled out that it was a thumb brushing soothing circles against the inside of her wrist, she also became aware of a voice – deep and quiet – humming a song that seemed oddly familiar, like a memory that she'd all but forgotten.

Her eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Poe said.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily.

"On the Millennium Falcon. Rey rescued us from Crait in the nick of time. You crashed your speeder."

"Tried to save Finn." It was difficult to keep her eyes open. The light was giving her a headache.

"And you did. We've been sitting here all night hoping you'd wake up. He's helping Rey and General Organa find a place where we can lay low for a while, but I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"'s okay. Gonna take a nap," she mumbled and promptly fell back asleep.

She thought she felt something soft brush her forehead, but the darkness pulled her under too quickly to wonder about it.

 

* * *

 

The next time she came to, she recognized the song Poe was singing.

"That's a bit morbid," she groused with her eyes still closed.

"It's a time-honored tradition to bid farewell to those who have fallen," Poe objected.

"I am not dying."

"I'm glad to hear it."

There was something in his tone that made her crack her eyes open. The light made her flinch, and she had to blink several times before her pupils adjusted to the brightness.

Poe was sitting at the foot of her bed, his back leaning against the wall. Turning her head, she realized that she was in a large room, which looked more like a cargo bay than an infirmary. Several people were close by, some sleeping on cots, some standing in small groups and sharing quiet conversations. Every now and then, she would catch someone's eye, and they would give her a smile and a nod.

Looking back at Poe, she took in the exhaustion on his face before her gaze drifted back to the sparse assembly of cots.

"How many of us survived?" she asked quietly.

Poe Dameron had always had a smile that took her breath away. Today, it looked alien on his face. "You don't need to worry about that right now. I want you to focus on getting better."

_So few_ , she thought, stricken. Pressure built inside her chest. She looked away.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We made contact with an old friend of Leia's who will grant us safe harbor so we can regroup. We'll get there in a couple of days."

Rose nodded. She still felt sluggish and would rather fall back into her pillow than get up, but with so few of them left, surely there was work that needed to be done.

"Help me get up."

Poe darted forward and caught her shoulders. "No." He pressed her back into the pillows. "You need to rest."

"The engine keeps making a weird sound. Let me see if I can fix it."

"There is no weird sound."

She glared at him. "Don't tell me that you can't hear that."

The corners of his mouth twitched. "I can, but there's nothing you can do about it. One of the converters blew. Rey fixed it as best as she could. She says it'll hold until we get to Felucia."

Rose harrumphed and fell back into her pillow. It wasn't that she didn't trust Poe – or Rey, for that matter (Not that she'd ever met Rey, but Finn had told her enough about her that she had no reason to doubt her competence.) – it was just that she was a damn good mechanic and four hands were better than two, and she was itching to see with her own eyes whether or not there was anything that could be done to stabilize the converter.

Her body, however, overruled her determination. No sooner had her head hit the pillow that she felt the fight drain out of her.

Reluctantly, she turned onto her side. Her arm was heavily bandaged, and it took her some maneuvering before she was comfortable.

"Can I get you anything?" Poe asked. "Water or something to eat?"

"Water, please," she answered, but she was fast asleep before Poe got back to her.

 

* * *

 

"How do you know that song?" Rose asked two days later.

She was finally able to stay awake for more than a few minutes at a time. Finn, Rey and even Senator Organa had stopped by to talk to her, but every time she woke up, without fail, she would find Poe sitting on her bed, his legs stretched out next to her own, singing a different song.

"I asked around. Apparently, it's quite popular on Hays Minor."

A wistful smile hushed across her features. "It was quite popular in most of the Outer Rim a few years ago. The guy in charge of the music at Paige's graduation party put it on so often that we got sick of it."

"I didn't know that. Paige once told me that it was your favorite."

She looked up at him in surprise.

Poe returned her gaze steadily, and there was something soft behind his eyes that made her blush. "It used to be. But, you know, too much of a good thing and all that."

God, why did she feel flustered all of a sudden? There was no reason for that. No reason at all.

Except that Rose's heart did a weird little flip flop motion when his smile turned devilish. "Rose, there is no such thing as 'too much of a good thing.'"

She didn't trust herself to reply to that.

 

* * *

 

They landed on a remote part of Felucia's northern hemisphere, and the muted conversations and sense of lethargy that had pervaded the Millennium Falcon evaporated in a flurry of activity. Their group had to get settled, supplies had to be bartered, and repairs had to be undertaken, and Rose was ushered gently, but firmly towards her new quarters.

The room consisted of two duracrete walls, a large pane of one-sided transparisteel that spanned from one corner to another, and the rough-hewn rock of the canyon wall into which their dwellings had been carved. A field bed and a couple of shelves were the only furnishings, but Rose didn't mind the spare aesthetics. The short trip from the ship to the speeder and from the speeder down two steep sets of stairs, which had been set into the rock wall, had sapped all her energy.

Depositing her meager rations on the top shelve, she sank onto her bed. Every muscle in her body ached, and her thigh and left arm, in particular, protested against every movement she made.

An impatient noise fell from her lips.

Fine. Fine, she was going to take a nap, but she was definitely getting back up in a few hours so she could ask someone to give her an assignment. She wasn't stuck on a ship anymore. There were plenty of things to do now. Besides, her injuries weren't so severe that she was bedridden anymore. No more excuses.

"I hate feeling weak," she mumbled just before she closed her eyes.

 

* * *

 

"A lullaby? Really?"

For a moment – just before her brain had fully woken up – she'd expected to see one of her parents when she opened her eyes.

Looking at Poe, she felt a bittersweet sensation settle over her.

For once, he wasn't sitting on her bed, but leaning against the wall beside it. "It seemed appropriate."

"How so? And how did you even get in here?"

"You didn't lock your door, and I wanted to check in on you before Finn and I are heading into town."

"I thought you wanted to go tomorrow."

He gave her a cheeky grin. "It _is_ tomorrow, sleepyhead."

"Oh, kriff." She sat up. "I can't believe I slept that long."

Her head swam from the sudden motion, and Poe was beside her in an instant, steadying her, and gently guiding her back onto the mattress.

He sat down next to her. "Easy, sleepyhead."

"Stop calling me that," she groused.

"Not sure if I can. I rather like it."

She glared at him. She really, _really_ hated feeling weak.

He must have seen something of her thoughts on her face because his expression sobered. "You're being too hard on yourself. You need time to mend, otherwise, you'll never be able to kick my ass again."

"I've never been able to kick your ass in the first place," she said absentmindedly. She couldn't look away from his face. The concern with which he regarded her warmed her as if someone had lit a candle inside her chest.

The corners of his mouth quirked upwards. "But I'm getting the impression that you would like to."

There was something in the air between them, something unexpected, but not unwelcome. In fact, the more Rose thought about it, the more she wanted to reach out and hold on to it with both hands.

"Are we talking about an actual ass-kicking, or is this a metaphorical way for you to ask whether or not I'm attracted to you?" she asked.

His grin widened. "Straightforward. I like that."

"Well, I did hit my head. Better to have things spelled out and clear instea–"

Leaning in, Poe gently brushed his lips across hers.

Rose swallowed.

"Yeah. Okay. That works, too. That's pretty clear." She grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him in for another kiss.

When they came back up for air, Poe nudged her cheek with his nose. "How do you feel about breakfast?"

Rose grinned. She suddenly felt a lot stronger than she had the night before. "I'm starving."

 


End file.
